TPPA threatens free education

Tertiary education staff are calling on the government not to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) this week.

TEU's national president Sandra Grey says the secret agreement will undermine public education.

Trade ministers from around the Pacific intend to sign the TPPA in Aucklandtomorrow, Thursday 4 February.

Grey says the agreement will allow corporations to sue New Zealand when the government acts in its people's interest but interferes with corporations' property rights and profitability.

"The TPPA will limit current and future governments' ability to make decisions that are the best for our kids' education," says Grey.

"The TPPA should explicitly exclude crucial public services like education but it does not", says Grey. "This means it threatens things like the Labour Party's promise to introduce free public tertiary education."

"Future governments should have the right to give our kids a free education without fearing they will need to compensate a private foreign university that has lost an opportunity to make a profit off our kids."

For more information

• Sandra Grey, TEU national president, 021 844 176
• Stephen Day, TEU communications officer, 021 2900 734

ENDS

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